/lit/ - Literature

I'm taking a Critical Theory class for one of my liberal arts electives (econ major).

How hard is critical/literary theory to get into/read? How much time should I expect to spend poring over texts? I also have the reading list if it'll help any.

>tfw haven't read any critical theory for 2 months because I'm in the education part of my English teaching degree
>tried to approach it again and just got frustrated

how do I get back into theory again, or am I right in thinking that it's all a bunch of horse shit that I'll be teaching?

Is it possible to teach a class on critical theory to high schoolers? I've been thinking about proposing one for the school I teach at.

How would you approach it?

Has art/poetry/literature become terrible because we've taught our artists to focus more on a piece's 'meaning' than its aesthetic quality? Like slam poetry, that statue of a police woman urinating, Piss Christ, that guy who makes those balloon animal sculptures - all seem to focus more on saying something than creating an interesting piece of art. What do you think?

Especially slam poetry, I hate that shit.